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Qatar MotoGP Results

A wild opening round in Qatar earlier today saw many riders crash out, including Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo who found the gravel on lap 1 (unhurt). A group of riders battled at the front near the end of the race, and it came down to a close contest between defending champ Marc Marquez (Honda) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). Marquez crossed the line first, followed by Rossi and then Dani Pedrosa (Honda). Open class rider Aleix Espargaro (Yamaha) came home in 4th. Rookie Scott Redding passed Nicky Hayden to win the battle among the Honda Open class riders by finishing 7th (Hayden was 8th).

The Ducati duo of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow finished in 5th and 6th positions, respectively, despite the distinct advantages obtained by Ducati in the last minute rule changes. For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site.

40 Comments

I was glad to see Rossi make Marquez work for it. Lorenzo would’ve done the same. A good start, unfortunately probably the same 4 guys racing, everyone else trying to keep them in sight. Way to Go Old Man!

This is the first race I’ve watched since Stoner retired, and I loved it- I’ll definitely be watching more. Also the start by aussie Jack Miller in Moto3 in his debut race, debut season, gives us aussies some hope for the future, coz we aint got much happening at the moment!

Marc continues to show he is the real deal. Very good battle with Rossiat the end. I’m glad that Rossi did well in light of him making his decision as to continue on in Motogp or not. I think bringing the top factory Ducati bike down to race in the “Open” class is akin to Pendrosa cheating on his boating test. We’ll see.

Compare the friendly approachable WSBK website, which makes the MotoGP site look only that much worse. I clearly see now the reason for so many posts here stating how much better is WSBK vs. MotoGP. If I traveled to watch a race here, it would not be BoringGP.

Personally, till proven wrong over time, I presume no matter how much harder poor Rossi would have charged, same exact finish at the end.

Also today at MotoGP, a headline declaring, “Ducati has foundation on which to grow!” or some such. Translation: “Ducati, same as forever since Stoner left, forever sucks in MotoGP pergatory.”

As a sixty year old business owner, I can taste and smell MotoGP desperation to present something fans can or should care about with passion. Epic, consistent, fail.

Marquez is only a month off a broken leg, that’s a pretty impressive effort given that. Aleix Espargo is going to threaten all year I suspect. Nice finish for the Ducati’s, though had Lorenzo been in the mix they’d have been at least one place further back. Redding ate Nicky’s lunch.

so if we were able to take away the crashes from the front (4) then we pretty much see what we saw last year. the “factory” Ducatis would have finished 9th and 10th. Yamaha and Honda in front despite their disadvantages. The advantage of the superior riders can’t be wiped out. Rossi and Marquez looked awesome. Dovi was happy about the gap not being as large as last year, but watching Cal creep across the line was stressful. I think the happiest finisher must have been Scott Redding, great performance to finish ahead of Nicky.

Yeah, I’m not predicting much of the same heroics at Austin, where the Honda dominated last year. After another victory, Marquez is going to have 50 points, leading to a considerable task for Lorenzo to overcome, at best down by 30 points after 2 races, if he can squeeze out a second

data from last year suggests the hole to be even deeper after the Hondas go 1-2 at the next round. Lorenzo has some of the European circuits in his favor soon. Curious about Argentina, if that will make any difference.

re: “data from last year suggests the hole to be even deeper after the Hondas go 1-2 at the next round.”

gonna be a tough track… and not just for Yamaha, but for more than a few others (see entry for nicky). baring some miracle, maybe the new tyres (in-situ with the gearbox) will suddenly work on the M1’s…? while freakishly handicapping the Hondas…?

Rossi talking openly and unapologetically about the 2014 M1’s wheezy, detuned, make-it-last-on-only-20-liters-of-fuel motor doesn’t bode well for the factory Yamahas at high-speed circuits. One would expect CotA to be a definite Honda track.

Heck of a race. It really was more competitive for quite a few laps. Then as usual the creme rose to the top. Really good racing those first few and last few laps. Who wouldn’t expect some crashes riding 150 mph in sand at night? Going to be an interesting season.

That front tire must be pretty…er…challenging. So many on-the-brakes crashes while virtually straight up-and-down. Lorenzo Bradl both got body slammed in that same manner. I hope Bridgestone can do something about that.

I was guessing there to be some sand on the outer edge of that corner. I might be wrong but the crashes seemed to come when they were a bit further to the outside of the corner than the rest of the racing line?

I didn’t say it was Bridgestone’s fault, I said that it was challenging. This is evident in the multiple non-trail-braking braking crashes in the race. I heard Lorenzo’s explanation, but that doesn’t explain why more than one other rider crashed the same way. I can’t remember the last time I saw that on a dry track once, never mind three times.